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Saturday, April 7, 2012

Leaders of 1980 Military Coup on Trial

In a case that began in Ankara on Wednesday April 4, 2012,
two surviving leaders of Turkey's 1980 military coup, the formal Chief of Staff
Kenan Evren, 94, and general Tahsin Şahinkaya, 86, have gone on trial. Both
generals are accused for acting against the constitution and state
authority. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered supporting the criminal
charges against the generals and calling for prosecution of state and military
personnel who perpetuated the coup. Lawyers of victims were affected by
the military coup in 1980, demanded the crimes committed during the
military coup should be defined as "crimes against humanity". Even if
they are convicted the generals are unlikely to be jailed because of their age and
health.

The most violent of the three military interventions in
modern Turkey, the 1980 coup executed 50 people were executed, 300 were killed
in prisons and more than half a million were detained, 14,000 were
stripped of citizenship and more than 1,5 million people were blacklisted.
In addition to these, hundreds of thousands of people were tortured, and
thousands are still missing.

Turkey
is finally facing one of the darkest chapters of its modern history and
bringing charges against the coup leaders is an important gesture
toward their victims. However, people
who follow the trial closely worry that the trial does not go far
enough

Moreover, the current arrests of
students, journalists and politicians and government pressure on oppositional
groups that GIT-North has been America closely issuing on this blog, indicate
that the authoritarian regime persists.

"We may be able to intervene to this case but on the other
hand, we stand trial four days a week on other issues. This case can't go on as
it is. The current government is a continuation of 1980. The tortures,
executions and crimes committed during the coup should be classified as crimes
against humanity. The indictment is weak and flawed. The defendants claim that they
can't be tried with the system they themselves build. I agree."